Nobody has answered this question yet. Europeans just don't do their own decaling, usually. So I wonder whether there are any such decals available at all. I'd guess they would have to be custom made.
A re-issue of this one in KPEV colors has been announced as well. The catalog shows a picture of the opiginal.
That's actually very encouraging news! It does seem strange given Fleischmann's history of high quality steamers. I suppose we should always expect there will be the occasional 'dud', but its hard when its your 'first'! On the topic of Fleischmann's diesels and electrics I have nothing but praise! Truly beautiful models with near craftsman quality! Its also good to get your perspective on the commentary in the German forums....there are few places us English speakers in North America can go to get good insight into the products and their performance (well, none really). Not only do we (or me anyway) have to struggle through the Google Translate version of the conversation, but also interpret some of the cultural attitudes as well. On the other hand, I have found a French forum where the attitude is very positive (of course, N scale for French is a bit like a starving man being asked if he's hungry!).
Concerning the German forum: Especially for Fleischmann and also Trix models prices went up tremendously during the last years. Just now Fleischmann announces a BR52 2-10-0 engine for 259 EUR, and Trix announces a BR50 2-10-0 for 299 EUR!! This is a lot of money, and it should be considered that the increases in wages in Germany have been considerably lower than in other European countries (starting from a higher level, but still with high taxes and increasing Social Security costs). In the macroeconomics this is one of the reasons why the German economy has recovered quite well, but for the "little model railroader" this means that the available funds for the hobby are dwindling. In this context a certain rage about an expensive model that is not perfect is understandable. Please excuse these off-topic remarks, but it might give a better understanding.
Christoph, I think your opinion is spot on. No reason for any excuses. The price topic is part of it all as well. For a while it was possible for me to get a very fine N model at a much lower price than a similar one in HO. It's part of the reason why my N collection of European steam engines increased much more than the HO one. (The other reason being space constraints.) The way things are going, I will have to reduce acquisitions even more. In my particular case, that is not all that tragic as I already have a very fine collection. But the situation will eventually lead to lower sales, which in turn will lead to even higher prices. A vicious circle.
Anyone up for a European themed Group? Sounds like we have interest. Christoph, any time you will spend talking about european models is on topic in threads I start. I REALLY like my Fleischmann locos. I am also proud of my Geramn heritage. But I can't see a market that supports these prices. Good thing Kato is starting to make more European locos. Other companies will come in and fill the void left by German companies failing. It's funny, even Kato and Bachmann (Graham Farish) make really nice US models and/or Japanese models for way less than they produce European liveries. Once the big German companies fail. Others will swoop in and compete for the market, prices will drop. Quality may keep up. Kato, Micro Ace, Tomix, Intermountan, Walthers/Life Like and even Bachmann (which already seems to be pulling ahead in the UK) are all making good and constantly improving Steam, You can add Atlas and I'm sure others in the diesel world. Electrics can be done by anyone that does diesel. Just my opinion.
I don't have sufficient experience with non-European steam in N scale. All I have seen so far were models with rod details that just were not as fine as what Fleischmann and Minitrix produce. And even that Kato BR 86 that looks decent at first sight just does not get to those levels. The rod assembly and the wheel centers look decidedly plasticy. Just examine the crosshead and the surrounding parts in the attached picture.
Someone will catch up if they want sales left from customers that don't have the money Fleischmann and Minitrix want. I agree the detail on the rods and stuff is great and I don't want to bash Fleischmann, but is paint on a Bavarian that looks a lot rougher than paint on a similar vintage, decidedly sub par Bachmann 4-4-0, susposed to be more prototypical, or could they improve their steam painting? If new units don't show a rough finish then great, but there is no way I can afford a $400-$600 loco, so Fleischmann will make no money from me as I seek deals on awesome old stock.
I don't recall rough painting on any Fleischmann N scale, but then I don't have that many older ones. And I would not be surprised if they would have had problems with the first ones of those more complicated paint schemes. So how old is the model you are writing about? At any rate, I don't think they purposely used rough painting for a more prototypical look. Well, if I use a 10x magnifying glass to look at my 0-10-0 T 16 in KPEV colors, I do see a somewhat uneven surface of the green color. But I assume that is not what you mean?
It looks more like hand paint than spray, it's early 90s I don't have any newer ones. love it. I'll buy more, but not at currently advertised prices.
I would love it. Its hard to find good information (in English), and even if I can use Google Translate, its of little use if you want to ask a question or interact! And i probably don't have to point out that English language forums that do cover European and other international topics tend to be HO focused (with the significant exception of the JNS forum which, to their credit, actually don't mind a lot of European discussion). My blog gets a ton of traffic from the US, but I don't have one US model or prototype featured, so there's got to be a lot of others like ourselves looking to share these sort of experiences. Christoph's comment about Fleischmann quality is really helpful, and this discussion about prices is really interesting, so yes, more please! :tb-biggrin: Its also a lot of fun to see others locomotives etc...
Thank-you Christoph and swissboy for your comments. There may not be enough interest for a new forum, but it would be fun to start other threads on similar topics. (And I highly recommend quinntopia's blog; the keyboard imprint is gone now.) For reasons I do not yet understand, I switched to European (actually Bavarian) back in the 1990s. In that other scale. Guess it was the look, quality, and precision. Did some research -- books, magazines, catalogs, etc. It is interesting to compare British and German rail development with the U.S. And the scale models, too. Since I retired a couple years ago my wife's interest in N scale renewed my interest. We are fascinated by both U.S. and European early years, or Era I. Still looking for that elusive K.Bay.Sts.B. locomotive to go with our rolling stock.
Sorry. Let me rephrase. How about a European group on tb? There used to be a db group. I think christoph ran it. I was a member, but it seemed to go away. I will read up on groups and maybe start one. Anyone interested? Post a good name for the group as well
No, I did not run that group. I was a member, but almost forgot about this Thank you for the reminder. I just checked and saw that it vanished. The new group might be a good idea. What I have observed is that these groups often have very little traffic. What I could imagine is a kind of link that a specific thread, like this one, is running in the overall forum, but can be "adopted" by the European Group. This would mean that the group is a kind of digest of threads related to its subject. Actually, the new 2011 announcements are out for most of the German manufacturers. It were mostly flyers in pdf-format, so I might collect the links if someone is interested. A list can be found here: 1zu160 - spur N neuheiten 2011 (in German)
Almost forgot ... Can anyone direct me to a new motor for this little guy? It's official part number is 50 7030; one of mine had its motor fail. In fact, any replacement motor would be good. I bought a real nice Faulhaber with gear head but it doesn't fit.
Marty... I would love to join! Great idea! I also like the idea of being a little more broad than just DB...there's a lot of interesting stuff across the continent (hope others agree!)
Hi! Fleischmann was always quite expensive, but they were also known for quality where you could buy the locos "blindly" - usually they ran great. After the original GFN was taken over by the Modelleisenbahn GmbH, more and more frustration came up among model railroaders. The prices for even 20 year old constructions were raised to a ridiculus level, new and even more expensive constructions had a lot of detail mistakes and the products now have an extreme scatter of quality. My two ER20 Eurorunner are the best locos I ever had, so they still know how to do it: http://www.fleischmann.de/uploads/tx_commerce/thumb_m9692_w560.jpg For 200 U$ for a ER20 you expect models to be perfect. But a long awaited new model for 250 U$ with detail mistakes and bad production quality can cause a lot of frustration. The prussian T9 is quite an old construction, so I think they might not be as detailed as the latest models, but robust and reliable. The new T13 (class 92) looks great, but this construction has serious problems with gears and steering - mostly because of bad production quality. http://www.fleischmann.de/uploads/tx_commerce/thumb_m14404_w560.jpg If you are looking for european models and are able to read german, try http://www.spurweite-n.de/ The database has a lot of models, and model railroader can writer their experiences to each model. My german stuff is mostly from Fleischmann, and I am very satisfied with my models. But nowadays you have to look a little closer and longer to find a model of "good old Fleischmann quality". Regards, jpd
As far as I can remember the answer is "almost". All my Fleischmann locomotives have tender drive, but I am not sure about the 0-6-0 BR53 which I don't own. That engine is really small, also its tender, so I don't know.
I'm resurrecting this zombie thread. I just got handed one of these little 2-6-0's from the antique store next to my office. DOA. I got it to turn over with some encouragement, the motor is not dead. http://marketplace-images.collector...0698230082cc335af7be0cfbf5ecec0ea-m23_001.jpg The plating is totally worn off the wheel treads; to me, that's a good sign - at least at one time this must have been a great runner to get that much wear on the wheels. I'm going to give it a good cleaning. The motor comes out easily, had some crud in the armature that had accumulated. Any idea if there are still parts to this, namely brushes, out there? I've never had a Fleishmann before and this is out of Mark's range as it's European. But you have to love that spoked lead truck. It's kinda cool and pretty well made, particularly the rods and running gear. If this is a 70's locomotive, it's a cut above about anything else I've seen from Rapido and Trix.
